Pitch Black
by nightfuryperson
Summary: Sometimes it only takes the light of one family member to chase away the darkness. Set in the 2k12 world after "Parasitica". Brotherly fluff between Raph and Mikey. Please R&R!


**Hey guys! Jus a random little oneshot that came to me a few days ago. It's pretty OOC, but whatever. Brotherly fluff between Raph and Mikey. Set in the 2k12 world after "Parasitica". Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own TMNT. **

Mikey jolted awake, breathing still hard and erratic as he tried to calm down form the nightmare he had just awoken from. He took a deep breath and pushed himself out of bed, and after doing a fairly impressive job at avoiding all of the clutter on his floor, made it to the door. Gently pushing it open, he tip-toed outside, mindful not to wake his family. Mikey opened his eyes as wide as he could to help himself see in the dark, but it wasn't necessary, having lived in the same place his whole life, the path to the T.V. pit was second nature to him. After a few seconds of walking, and a face plant just short of the couch, Mikey made it to the pit. With a sigh, he sat down. Just a few days ago, he and the others had taken down some giant, mind controlling zombie-wasps. It would have seemed really cool if his brothers hadn't been the ones being controlled. He had been the only one that still had his brain to himself (for the most part, anyway) while his older brothers became mindless, black eyed drones. It had been really freaky, for the enemy to be his own flesh and blood, and to be honest, he had been really scared. The entire situation could have gone _so_ wrong. What if he had succumb to the poison too soon? What if he hadn't finished the antidote in time? What if one of his brothers had gone too far in attacking him? He shuddered at the thought as he grabbed the remote for the T.V. Mikey trusted his brothers with all he had, but seeing their eyes, their vacant expressions, it was like he was with three strangers; a life-time of memories just gone like that. He felt horrible, guilty even, that the thought of one of them seriously harming him even entered his mind, but he just couldn't help it. 'Okay Mikester, you just gotta calm down. Watch some T.V. But keep the volume down. Don't wanna wake Sensei.'

Mikey turned on the T.V. and started flicking through the channels.

"-on this episode I saw of the Walking Dead-"

"Nope."

"-And then this guy with a killer zombie costume-"

"Nope."

"-and now enjoy our special nature documentary, featuring a most peculiar animal indeed."

"Hmm. Well, Donnie finds these interesting so… it's sure to put me back to sleep."

"The parasitic wasp."

Mikey stared dumbfounded at the screen for a moment, before fumbling with the remote and slamming his finger on the auxiliary button. Picking up a game controller, he muttered to himself, "Well, I'll just play whatever's on here. Take that dumb T.V."

Mikey waited a few moments to see the title screen, only to feel the sudden urge to hurl the controller through the T.V. when it appeared.

"Zombie Slayer"

After another brief battle with the remote (one that involved whacking it against the edge of the couch until the T.V. turned off.) Mikey sat back and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. Then he stopped as he realized something; the T.V. was off, and so were all of the other lights in the lair. It was completely dark. Mikey shivered. He had always hated the dark. His brothers had made fun of him for it when they were younger, especially Raph, and eventually he just started to claim that it didn't bother him anymore. They believed him after some time, and forgot about their teasing game and his fear all together, and after a while, he started to believe it too. But, of course, the pitch black that had taunted him for all his life would always make a comeback. Dark sewers, dark home… his brothers' dark eyes. Mikey clutched one of the pillows to his plastron and his breathing picked up as he remembered his nightmare. It hadn't been anything out of the ordinary, just the usual run through of the event until something went wrong and they were all gravely injured or killed, except in this one he was all alone, battling the empty shells of what were once three of his favorite people in the world(although he'd _never_ admit that out loud). He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in the pillow, trying to block out the thoughts. He lay like that for a few more moments, until "Mikey?" With an undignified screech, Mikey yanked himself into his shell and clattered to the ground, waiting for the worst to come. He whimpered when he felt something grabbing his shell, but after a few moments, peeked out to see none other than Raph staring back at him, annoyance, confusion, and a tiny bit of concern sneaking into his expression. Mikey let out a breath to calm himself, and then pulled out completely, settling back on the couch. "Don't scare me like that, man. Ya' nearly gave me a heart attack." Raph just crossed his arms and stared back. He was still wearing his mask and wrappings, but his pads and belt were gone. He looked younger this way, despite the fatigue in his eyes. After a second or two, he groaned and sat down as well. "Yeah, whatever, knucklehead. What are you doing up anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep." Mikey answered, bringing his knees up to his plastron. Raph eyed him for a moment. Normally, Mikey slept like a brick when he got the chance. And he was obviously a little tighter wound than usual, he had seemed really freaked out when he came in. "Mikey, what's going on? I know something's wrong."

"It's nothing Raph."

"Yeah, sure."

Mikey glared at him. "Seriously, Raph, just drop it." Raph smirked, fiddling with the wrapping on his hand. "You really don't wanna talk about this, huh?" Mikey breathed out a sigh of relief. "Yes, Raph."

"Well now I gotta know what it's about." Mikey groaned and grabbed a pillow, burying his face in it. "The sooner you tell me, the sooner I'll stop." Raph sing-songed, still grinning. He heard Mikey mumble 'leave' into the pillow. "Nope." With another overly dramatic groan, Mikey pulled his face from the pillow. "_Fine_. I just had a stupid nightmare, okay? It doesn't matter." He looked to Raph. His brother's position hadn't changed, but his eyes had shifted to look at him. "What about?" Mikey shrugged. "Nothi-" He was cut short by a pillow to the face. He spluttered as he shoved it away. "Hey!"

"Yeah, well, stop lying ta' me and it won't happen again!" Mikey glared daggers at him, before sighing dejectedly. "It was about the wasp thing. Ya' know, what would have happened if I wasn't able to cure you guys." Raph studied his brother intently. "Them eating us?" Mikey didn't bother to try hiding his wince. "Yeah, that came second."

"Second to what?" Mikey gulped, hugging himself. Raph hesitated a moment, judging the importance of his pride against that of his little brother, and then threw and arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. "Just tell me Mikey. It's okay." Mikey blinked; he had never seen Raph be so gentle with anyone, well, besides Spike of course. He took a breath. "It was weird. Seeing you guys like that. I mean, except for your eyes you looked completely normal, and sometimes when I couldn't see them it was like nothing was actually happening, but then you would turn around and-" He squeezed his eyes shut. "I-It was just freaky. It was like our entire lives together was just _gone_ like that. Like you guys didn't care anymore. Uggh, Raph, and then there was the entire thing with the antidote. I was so sure that I was gonna screw it up, and then you guys would be…gone. And it would be my fault." He opened his eyes when he felt Raph shift him into his lap, cradling him in a hug. "But you did, Mikey. We're all fine. Those dumb wasps aren't coming back. You finished them off real good, remember?" Mikey was still in a state of emotional shock, between the nightmare thing and Raph hugging him. He took a deep breath to keep himself in check, but he couldn't stop the shaking. He pressed his face into the hot head's neck, relaxing a little when his brothers arms tightened around him. "Yeah." Raph rested his chin on his brother's head. "So what was the rest of the nightmare about?" Mikey curled up more. "Just you guys beating me up." He forced out a soft laugh. "Nothing out of the usual." Raph rubbed his baby brother's arm. "You know we would never hurt you like that, right?" Mikey nodded, tracing the jagged chip in Raph's plastron with a finger. "Right."

Raph snorted. "Why do you like that thing so much?"

"Cause it looks cool."

"It's not."

"It is."

"Donnie says it's unsymmetrical."

"Since when do you care what Donnie says?"

"Since when do you think I look cool ya' dork?" Mikey laughed and snuggled closer. "Dunno." Raph grunted in response, leaning back into the couch. "What time is it?"

Mikey tried to glance up, but it was hard to do with Raph's head on top of his. "It was like three when I got out here." Raph tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling. "Well, training was cancelled for today, Donnie and Leo will be sleeping in… wanna camp out here?" Mikey pushed away to look at him. "What about Sensei?" Raph gave him a deadpan look. "Ya' really think he's gonna mind so long as we don't trash anything?" Mikey shrugged in agreement. "Good point." Mikey studied his brother's face, somewhat in awe of the fact that it was so much clearer now, easier to see through the black of the night. He wriggled for a bit until he was seated back on the couch. "So, what are we gonna d-" he was cut off yet again by a pillow to the face. Blinking a few times to get over the shock, he turned to his older brother, who was non-chelantly twirling said pillow around. Mikey stared for a beat more, before grinning. "Oh it's ON!"

Let's just say that no one got any more sleep that night.

And maybe the dark wasn't _too_ evil after all.

**I know the endings rushed, but I kind of hit a road block. I hope you guys liked it. Please review, no flames! :P**


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